House Rules
While this campaign will be following the core rules established in the 5th edition Players Handbook of Dungeons and Dragons, there are a few elements and rules of my own that I will be implementing within our campaign. This is mostly for the sake of fun, ease, and just general entertainment. Dice Rolls If (when rolling a dice) the dice gets hit or disturbed, then the roll is cocked and you re-roll. If it falls on the floor, then so long as it didn't land on an uneven surface, I will consider it valid. Encumbrance There is nothing more annoying than finding some cool loot, only to not be able to carry it without exceeding the maximum carrying weight. So fuck that. I'm getting rid of encumbrance. So long as you can provide a REASONABLE EXPLANATION as to how you are able to carry all you have, I will not place limits. Extra emphasis on "reasonable", because while I will let you carry 10 books if that's what you want, I will NOT let you just simply carry an entire horse without some sort of ability check or consequence. Leveling Up While it is common in Dungeons and Dragons campaigns to assign experience points for each task completed and monsters defeated, I will not be doing that. Why? Because I fucking hate math, and counting and keeping track of all those statistics is annoying. Instead, I will be leveling you guys up when you reach certain milestones within the story. Not only does this narratively make more sense, but it also means that you guys will all be leveling up together and be at the same level. Critical Rolls Initiative If you roll a natural 20 on initiative, then during the first round you roll your attack with advantage. If you roll a natural 1, then you roll your attack during the first round with disadvantage. Critical Hits When in combat, if you roll a natural 20 for an attack, then you multiply the total damage done by 2. If you roll a natural 1 for an attack, then there is an increased chance for their being a rebound or saving throw you have to make... Potions When in combat, I will let you use a potion as a bonus action instead of a regular action. However, if you try to give someone else a potion, then that will use a normal action (because you actively have to feed it to them). Death Saves When rolling your death saving throws, I request you keep it secret from the group and either roll behind the DM screen, or stealthily roll and then message me the result. Therefore, there is more tension and peril when the rest of your teammates don't know your status. If anyone else want to know what your saves are, they must succeed a DC 12 medicine check as part of an action (action if they away from the person, bonus action if they are near the person OR if the player rolling is a medical specialist). Resurrection While character deaths really suck, I find that the rules of the resurrection spell in the PHB are a bit too easy to navigate around, and thus take away from the peril that death holds. So long as you have a bard or cleric around of a high enough level, you are basically immortal. Where is the stress in that? So instead, we will be adopting the Resurrection rules established by Matt Mercer. While very similar to the original spell rules, they are slightly more difficult while also adding a group element that can really enrich the spell and overall immersion.